the pain of mccain, let's play "hardball." from washington, let me start with this, why is john mccain so angry? 40 years after the vietnam p.o.w.s came home the most famous of them is angrier than ever. we are we fighting vietnam again in the u.s. senate. the ticked-off hagel, is it just for show? the basic unfairness of vietnam itself that some went and some didn't? is it about lyndon johnson's

inability to win the war or end it? what is it about john mccain that seems to excite those who know nothing about vietnam. well tonight we dig into the deep well of resentment burning in john mccain's patriotic heart. a resentment not against the north vietnamese who imprisoned and tortured him, not against george w. bush and his political henchmen who tried to stain mccain's reputation. but just like he did, in the same army of america's long nightmare in vietnam. i'm joined by david corn with "mother jones" and joy reed with the grio. i have to tell you i'm convinced we're watching a flashback. watch this, here's senator john mccain, he did a long, angry wind-up before he launched into his first so-called question.

it was really an indictment for former senate colleague and former friend and fellow vietnam veteran, chuck hagel. it included put-downs, as well as reference does vietnam. let's listen. >> in january of 2007, in a rather bizarre exchange with secretary rice in the foreign relations committee after some nonsense about syria and crossing the border into iran and syria, because of the surge, then reference to cambodia in 1970, you said quote, when you set in motion the kind of policy the president is talking about here, it's very, very dangerous. quote as a matter of fact, i have to say madam secretary, i think the speech given last night by the president represents the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since vietnam if it's carried out. he will resist it. in march of 2008 you said, quote

here the term quagmire could apply. >> what are these, the fullbright hearings? i lived through them and this guy is going back into some last year at marion bad, weird 1970s movie, where you go back into a past that never happened. why is he fighting hagel over vietnam? >> it's interesting because he's ostensibly fighting with him over iraq. but it immediately becomes about vietnam. it's as how they're talking about. he seems to be mad that hagel took issue with him about iraq and compared it to vietnam being the big blunder which of course mccain and hagel both served in. when mccain talks about iraq, he only wants to talk about it from the surge on, it's as if everything before that didn't happen and didn't count. and we can still debate whether the surge worked or not. the bigger issue is whether iraq was as bad as vietnam and he doesn't want to have that argument. >> here he is, joy, why don't you respond to mccain sinking

his teeth into hagel's ankle. he wouldn't let go of the question of the surge. back again to the old war. >> will you correct or incorrect when you said that the surge would be the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since vietnam? were you correct or incorrect? yes or no? >> my reference to the surge being the most dangerous -- >> senator hagel, the question is, were you right or wrong? that's a pretty straightforward question. i would like you to answer whether you are right or wrong and then you were free to elaborate. >> i'm not going to give awe yes or no i think it's far more complicated. my answer is, i'll defer that judgment to history. as to the comment i made about the most dangerous foreign policy decision since vietnam, was about not just the surge, but the overall war of choice going into iraq. >> well there you have it, joy,

your thoughts? you're younger, you've been through it, you studied it in school, i lived through it, but it's the weirdest thing, it looks like a flashback. is it really about the surge? i'm still trying to figure out the anger here. >> these guys both served, as you said, chris, they were actually good friends, brothers in arms in the senate. john mccain seems to be a man who is tormented. he's tormented by these demons that have to do with the things that he was denied. he was denied the presidency. so he couldn't stand george w. bush. he was denied it again, so he couldn't stand barack obama and can't stand anyone that barack obama nominates. and the surge was something that was his. i think that almost in a way john mccain made the surge into the war as john mccain would have fought it as commander-in-chief. and anyone who questions it gets the wrath of mccain. and i watched that hearing, that part of the hearing with colonel jack jacobs and pat murphy, the governor of pennsylvania who served in iraq.

and both of those guys were at the bottom of the pile. and you view war differently. but the lesson that these two men took from vietnam seems to have been so different. hagel took the questioning, the same thing patrick murphy feels, being lied to and feeling anger for knowing you friends died for what you believe to be a lie. >> here's lindsay graham, badgering defense nominee hagel. about his whether the iranian revolutionary guard should be designated terrorist organization. i think this is aimed at south carolina's right wing. let's listen. >> if there was a vote on the floor of the senate this afternoon, to label the iranian revolutionary guard, the people who have killed our soldiers in iraq, some of the most vicious people to the people of iran themselves, if there were a vote tomorrow or this afternoon or after lunch, would you still vote no? >> well i would want to know from the president, what they

were doing. but again -- >> i mean you read the paper, you watch tv, you got any doubt what they're doing? if you had a chance tomorrow, today, after lunch, to vote to say that the iranian revolutionary guard was a terrorist organization, would you still vote no? >> well the reason i voted no to start with -- >> well you told me that. my question is would you reconsider and would you vote yes this time? or would you still vote no? >> times change, i recognize that, and yes, i would reconsider, but the whole theory. >> thank you, that's encouraging, my time is up. >> you want to know what the mccarthy period is like a little bit. you want to know what the inquisition was like a little bit, the star chamber? that. >> he didn't give him a chance to answer the question. it wasn't about the issueself. it was about lindsay graham grandstanding for the five minutes he gets. there's a whole another story we can talk about some of the time about congressional hearings have really gone down downhill over the last 10, 20 years.

five-minute questions, you don't get to develop a train of thought. you don't take in the answer and have a real discussion. you saw yesterday, far more talk about what hagel might have said about israel a couple of years ago. than about afghanistan. >> he wanted recantation. they wanted him to recant like, excuse me -- that's not for you, joy. the eclees yasticcal proceeding. >> they feel like he turned on them, he turned on their war, he turned on the neocons and they want him to cry uncle. i think the neoconserves, who are led in the senate by john mccain and lindsay graham, they see chuck hagel as the human road block, the symbol that barack obama, that president obama is not going to let them have their war in iran and that is their problem with chuck hagel. >> i think our brains are connected, i say that again joy, you're so smart. because i agree with your words as you speak them, they're brilliant. i'm serious. i'm patronizing, i think you're unbelievable. i keep hearing my brain talk.

thank you, joy reed. thank you david cornyn. coming up, it's hoil's last d hillary clinton's last day in the state department. the first day of the rest of her life, it may well include a run for president in 2016. there are plenty of democrats waiting for her to say i do. also, men behaving badly. we showed you john mccain and lindsay graham's rude behavior. and they're hardly alone. the lesson that many of the gop seem to have learned from 2012 is, if you want to stop losing elections, just keep doing exactly what you've been doing. the documentary "the gatekeepers" a fascinating look at the members of israel's security agency. the interesting job of dealing with palestinians in the occupied territories. they're a lot more like barack obama than like benjamin netanyahu. let me finish with a chance of a fabulous massachusetts delegation in the united states senate.

elizabeth warren and edward marquee. this is "hardball." c-max has a nice little trait, you see, c-max helps you load your freight, with its foot-activated lift gate. but that's not all you'll see, cause c-max also beats prius v, with better mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid.

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i knew there was something really special about this place. and that having the honor to lead the state department and usaid unique and singular and challenging and exciting. >> welcome back to "hardball," that was secretary of state hillary clinton saying good-bye to the men and women of the state department today. now let the campaign begin. already the world of democratic operatives and donors are is itching for the big drive of

2016. >> take a look at cover of "newsweek," the most powerball woman in u.s. history. with me is former pennsylvania governor, ed rendell and political condominiumist, sin th thea tucker. where would you rank letter with cleopat cleopatra. >> cleopatra immediately came to mind for me, too. i think hillary clinton still has some history in front of her to make. but she can be declared the most powerful woman in history. >> we've settled that. ed marquee, i'm thinking of ed marquee, let me ask you, governor rendell. let me try to bother awe little bit. back in 1979, you were convinced that ted kennedy could not be beat for president of the united states. were you out there with billy green. i'm trying to hold on to my speech-running job at the white house, you're trying to take it

away from me. times change, it conceivable in your hillary heart that times could change over the next three years, and she would not be hot to trot to run. doug macarthur i'm told by the people who lived back there in '51 and remembered it, that he was unbeatable for president when he was fired by truman. a year later, he was nothing. i took it away. >> is it true that hillary has the staying power, so that for years from now, she could be president? >> yeah, i think she does. ted kennedy, remember, was a fairly young senator and hadn't really proven himself. douglas macarthur was a general, and no one knew how he would react to public service. hillary clinton has been on the scene for 20 years, two decades, and has been a fairly dominant player already in american politics for those 20 years. chris, it is unbelievable, i can't walk a block in philadelphia without being stopped by someone thrusting a card in my hand saying when hillary runs, i want to give money. i have never seen anything like it in my political experience of 34 years ever.

not anywhere close. not even the obama phenomenon matches the enthusiasm level that's here. could something change in three years? of course. three years is a long time. but, remember, it's not really three years. if she wants to make a decision, she has to make a decision by next spring, spring of '14. if she makes that decision, she by and large pre-empts the democratic field. >> what do you tell joe biden that he should do between now and then to prepare to run if she doesn't run but prepare to hit the parachute if she does run? how does he prepare both? >> well, he does everything he's been doing. he goes at it like he's going to be a candidate because i think there's still a decent chance that hillary will decide not to run. i wouldn't bet on it, but i think there's a decent chance, and then joe becomes the front-runner. joe should continue to make contact, talk to givers. the problem for joe is, and people do love and respect joe, and i'm in that category, but

the givers, the people who will decide who really is the most powerful candidate, they're all -- they all like joe, but they're all for hillary right now. that's his biggest problem. >> and that's men and women both, right? >> men and women both. >> let me go to cynthia. let's look at this poll, most admired woman of 2012. let's look at this number here. hillary clinton, it's not even close anymore, the most admired woman category here. 21% for her. the first lady at 5%, which is okay i guess but not great here. and oprah winfrey, who is like the most powerful woman in the history of the media you might say, televised media, and look at her down there at 4%. it's stunning the domination, if you will, of this one public figure. >> i think that's well-deserved, chris. i really do. i think she has not only done a phenomenal job as secretary of state, but she also -- she ran an excellent campaign in the primaries, and when she lost,

she threw her support behind barack obama and worked very hard for him and, of course, she worked -- she was his loyal secretary of state. and i think that goes a long way with many people. their campaign was pretty bitter. their rivalry was pretty bitter, and i remember all of the questions in 2008. will hillary really join forces with barack obama? not only did she join forces, she worked hard for him, and she was his very loyal secretary of state. and i think for people all over the world, that goes a long way in building up their admiration for her. this was a woman who lost the campaign, but when she was called on, she gave it her all. >> let me ask you, governor, you're as good a pol as i know. my question is what did she learn? somebody said just recently the secretary herself said the lessons she learned looking back

was she had to be a better communicator. well, that covers a lot of territory. i think what hurt her most was her vote at least for the iraq war. in the democratic confines within the caucus voters, the real zealous people in the party, that war was the issue, the opposition to it, and the fact that she had voted for it i think really gave an issue to barack obama who as a state senator was out there in chicago in probably a liberal district and he voted against the war without worrying about it. she hedged her bets and voted for the war, and i think that was her biggest impediment to winning. i don't think she has that kind of impediment this time around. >> no, and she learned how to communicate with working class folks. if you remember, chris, four or five years ago, hillary clinton's biggest problem was working class women, blue collar women. yet by the end of that campaign, she was racking up huge majorities in west virginia and kentucky and pennsylvania and places like that, and she attracted those working class women. she was like a rock star in the parades we went to in scranton and pittsburgh and places like

that. so she learned to communicate as a populist, as a real populist. that will hold her in good stead. i think she learned to save some money for contingencies. remember, if they had any money after super tuesday, i think they would have been the nominee, but they spent all their money, and it was down the chute, and she got bad advice. >> bad advice. if you run it next time, it will be better. i got some of those working class women. i know what that looks like. you're against hillary. if you were against hillary, you were in big trouble. no matter what your motive, you were in big trouble. cynthia, you can't wait, can you? >> you know, i think that by 2014 the prospect of becoming the very first female president of the united states will be too powerful for hillary clinton to say no. she's also a person who could hold together what has become known as the obama coalition.

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back to "hardball" now. the "sideshow." state of shock. aaron schock. let's say you're a u.s. congressman in a state that's expected to take up the issue of gay marriage in the coming weeks, and let's say you have a history of supporting a federal amendment that would ban it entirely. in those circumstances you might expect it to be a hot topic with reporters, right? illinois congressman aaron schock apparently never saw it coming. >> why don't you support that issue, by the way? >> well, i just haven't.

>> i mean, is there a reason? it seems to be a few states have passed it. obviously the needle is moving in a lot of polls. i'm wondering what the reason is? >> i think everybody has a set of beliefs on issues, social issues in particular, that are a reflection of how they were raised and their set of beliefs. i think why you're seeing some of these changes in laws is because people's views in society have changed. >> well, that was illuminating. schock has said he's considering a run for governor of illinois. a rough week for some members of the 49ers. it started when chris culliver made anti-gay reports on a radio show. quote, the derogatory comments i made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how i feel. end of the story maybe for culliver. some pointed to the fact that four members took part in a video for the it gets better project, a group that reaches

out to teen victims of bullying, specifically lgbt teens. >> there's nothing easy about being young. >> about being yourself. >> every day brings different challenges. >> it defines who you are, but something you should never experience is being bullied. intimidated or being pressured into something or someone you're not. >> the san francisco 49ers are proud to join itgetsbetter.org to let all lgbt teens know that it gets better. >> believe in yourself, set goals for yourself. >> look to the future, and it will get better. >> that was last august, but in an interview with "usa today," two of the players we just saw in the video initially denied participation in the gay rights video. one of them, ahmad brooks, said, quote, i think if i made a video, i'd remember it. this is america, and if someone wants to be gay, they can be gay, but i didn't make any video. then he was shown the video. oh, that. it was an anti-bullying video. it was a gay rights video. brooks and his teammate eventually agreed gay teens are very often the victims of

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